


Son of a Preacher Man

by Nyssa23



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Falling In Love, First Love, First Time, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-19
Updated: 2011-12-19
Packaged: 2017-10-27 12:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/296029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyssa23/pseuds/Nyssa23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jake and Nog, over the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Son of a Preacher Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lunabee34 (Lorraine)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorraine/gifts).



> Thanks to lunabee34 for inspiring me to write at last about one of my favorite pairings. I hope you like it!
> 
> Thanks to jammer427 (macgeek427) for beta reading. <3

Jake Sisko didn't know exactly what he was going to do that day on the Promenade. He hadn't been on the station long, and he felt like he'd never been more bored in his life. After having been around so many other Starfleet kids at Utopia Planitia, Jake found the lonely hours on Deep Space Nine intolerable. Jake read books and watched holovids and worked on the lessons the computer assigned him, but each day still seemed empty from the time his father left their quarters until he came home at the end of his shift to prepare dinner. So Jake decided to go exploring by himself, just for a bit, to see what really went on outside the habitat ring.

Jake wandered around for a while, watching the movements around the newly-rededicated Bajoran temple, looking at the displays in the shops, jumping back in surprise when the maker of some beautifully tailored garments turned out to be a short Cardassian who met his eyes coolly. Finally, Jake worked up the nerve to approach a Ferengi boy he'd seen on the Promenade once before. Jake called out to him. The young Ferengi sneered at Jake and moved away, but Jake followed him until the Ferengi, Nog, finally decided to talk. "What do you do here?" Jake asked him.

Nog shrugged. "My father and I work for my uncle Quark at the bar. But that's just until I figure out how to make enough latinum to buy Quark out." Nog shook his head, stuck out his chin determinedly. "My father doesn't have the lobes so it's up to me to take care of it."

Jake frowned, not sure what to make of that answer. "I mean, what do you do for fun?"

A crooked grin spread over the young Ferengi's face. "You ever hear of Garanian Bolites?"

***  
Nog and Jake sat close together in a disused cargo bay, looking at a PADD with some simple reading exercises. Jake read each sentence out carefully, explaining to Nog what each word's role was in the sentence. Nog listened and repeated after Jake, sometimes stumbling over unfamiliar words. It had never occurred to Jake how difficult it was to learn to read; he had simply been reading for as long as he could remember. But Nog seemed to be picking it up pretty fast.

"School's just not the same without you. But at least I can still bring you the lessons. What do you think your dad will say if he finds out what you're doing?" Jake asked.

Nog shrugged. "He'll probably just tell me not to see you, then make me disassemble and clean all the dabo tables. What about your dad?"

Jake shook his head sadly. "He's been so busy, he probably hasn't even noticed that I'm gone."

The two boys smiled at each other and returned to the lesson. Unseen by either, Benjamin Sisko stood watching them, then slipped out silently.

***  
Jake sat in his room on the anniversary of his mother's death, turning a small holoframe over and over in his hands. Gazing into it, he pressed the switch on the side. Pictures displayed in turn, one fading into the other: his parents beaming at each other over drinks at a party, looking into each other's eyes on their wedding day, holding baby Jake between them as his exhausted mother lay in a hospital bed. He heard a knock at the door and stood up slowly. Still clutching the frame in one hand, he walked into the front room and opened the door to find Nog standing there. "Sorry, I don't really feel like playing dom-jot today."

Nog shook his head. "I know. I just wanted you to have this." He pressed a small data chip into Jake's hand and turned to go.

"Wait. What is this?" Despite himself, Jake felt a smile forming on his face. "Come in here for a minute. My dad won't be back until dinnertime." He sat down on the sofa in the front room, motioning for Nog to sit as well. Setting down the frame, Jake grabbed a nearby PADD and plugged the data chip in. A readout on the screen indicated that the chip was a receipt for the payment of four slips of latinum to the Divine Exchequer to help ensure favorable treatment by the Celestial Auctioneers for the soul of the decedent of the payer's choice.

Nog looked embarrassed. "Sorry, it's not much. But I wanted to help. For your mother. I know you humans don't believe in the Divine Treasury, but--" He stopped there, because Jake had started to cry and laugh at the same time.

Jake put down the PADD and ran a hand down his face hurriedly. "Nog, it's okay. I mean, it's great." He met the Ferengi's worried gaze. "Thank you."

Nog leaned towards Jake and whispered, “Sometimes I miss my mother too.” And Jake felt a sudden terrible rush of sympathy for Nog. Jennifer Sisko had died—she didn't decide to, she couldn’t help what had happened. Prinadora had simply abandoned Rom and Nog, never to be heard from again.

Jake moved closer to Nog and, for the first time, put his arms around his friend. Nog pulled away at first, then relented and let Jake hold him as they wept together wordlessly.

***  
Sitting at a table in the Replimat, Jake worked on a PADD, looking intently at it as he typed in words, then deleted some and moved others around, fingers moving furiously. At last, sighing, he got up, stretched, put his empty iced tea glass back into the replicator, and walked around the Promenade. There were more shops now than there had been the first time he'd made this walk, and a decidedly different mood among the shoppers and employees; the initial nervousness about operating after the end of the occupation had gradually worn off, and although there were the occasional whispers of trouble coming from the Gamma Quadrant, business was good. Jake found himself standing at the spot where he and Nog used to sit and watch the comings and goings all along the Promenade. He leaned over the rail for old times' sake, but felt rather foolish doing so alone. He shook his head sadly and walked away, with only Quark's watchful eyes on him.

Quark looked after the young human, absently polishing the same glass over and over as he did so. "I'm sure he misses you too," the Ferengi murmured.

***  
When Nog returned from Empok Nor, shaken and bruised, and collapsed into their quarters after debriefing, Jake helped him clean up, put him to bed, knew better than to ask questions. Living with his father had taught Jake that much.

Later that night, when Nog awoke screaming, Jake came to him, slid into bed with him and stroked his head, whispered to him that everything was okay, held him tight. When he thought about it later, he couldn't explain why; it just seemed like the right thing to do.

In the morning, when Jake rose to leave, Nog reached out and pulled him back to bed. And suddenly, that seemed right, too.


End file.
